In the management of early-stage breast cancer (BC), lymph nodes (LNs) are typically characterised using the One-Step Nucleic Acid Amplification (OSNA) assay, a standard procedure for assessing subclinical metastasis in sentinel LNs (SLNs). The pivotal role of LNs in coordinating the immune response against BC is often overlooked. Our aim was to improve prognostic information provided by the OSNA assay and explore immune-related gene signatures in SLNs. The expression of an immune gene panel was analysed in SLNs from 32 patients with Luminal A early-stage BC (cT1-T2 N0). Using an unsupervised approach based on these expression values, this study identified two clusters, regardless of the SLN invasion: one evidencing an adaptive anti-tumoral immune response, characterised by an increase in naive B cells, follicular T helper cells, and activated NK cells; and another with a more undifferentiated response, with an increase in the activated-to-resting dendritic cells (DCs) ratio. Through a protein—protein interaction (PPI) network, we identified seven immunoregulatory hub genes:CD80,CD40,TNF,FCGR3A,CD163,FCGR3B, andCCR2. This study shows that, in Luminal A early-stage BC, SLNs gene expression studies enable the identification of distinct immune profiles that may influence prognosis stratification and highlight key genes that could serve as potential targets for immunotherapy.
在早期乳腺癌（BC）的管理中，淋巴结（LNs）通常通过一步核酸扩增（OSNA）检测进行表征，这是评估前哨淋巴结（SLNs）亚临床转移的标准程序。淋巴结在协调针对乳腺癌的免疫反应中的关键作用常被忽视。我们的目标是改进OSNA检测提供的预后信息，并探索SLNs中与免疫相关的基因特征。本研究分析了32例Luminal A型早期乳腺癌（cT1-T2 N0）患者SLNs中一组免疫基因的表达。基于这些表达值，采用无监督方法，本研究识别出两个聚类，与SLN是否受侵无关：一个显示出适应性抗肿瘤免疫反应，其特征是幼稚B细胞、滤泡辅助T细胞和活化NK细胞的增加；另一个则表现出更未分化的反应，其特征是活化与静息树突状细胞（DCs）比率的增加。通过蛋白质-蛋白质相互作用（PPI）网络，我们确定了七个免疫调节枢纽基因：CD80、CD40、TNF、FCGR3A、CD163、FCGR3B和CCR2。本研究表明，在Luminal A型早期乳腺癌中，SLNs基因表达研究能够识别出可能影响预后分层的不同免疫特征，并突出了可作为免疫治疗潜在靶点的关键基因。
Two Different Immune Profiles Are Identified in Sentinel Lymph Nodes of Early-Stage Breast Cancer
肿瘤(癌症)患者之家